A materialistic and ambitious businesswoman finds herself in a small and very festive town during the holidays, unexpectedly falls for a hardworking flannel-clad man, and subsequently learns the meaning of love, and also Christmas. If this plot sounds familiar, it’s because it’s the plot of at least half of Hallmark’s extensive Christmas movie catalogue.
“It’s unrealistic,” Berkeley High School senior Feranmi Olawoye said, “I watched one and like, a minute in, this girl goes to France, she’s there for business. And then two seconds later, this man comes in and they’re kissing.”
For better or for worse, Hallmark dominates the holidays, having started as a greeting card company in 1910. In the 115 years since, the company has expanded into its arguably most profitable venture: holiday movies. There are so many that it becomes hard to pin down an exact number; IMDb currently lists 503 of these titles, and with Hallmark’s annual tradition of their “Countdown to Christmas” event, in which anywhere from 24 to 40 new Christmas movies are released, that list will only increase exponentially. It’s a seemingly inexhaustible source of content, and Hallmark’s output of these films is so unending and consistent that for some, it comes off as more camp and silly than just greedy.
BHS sophomore Anya Wagner, whose favorite Hallmark originals include “Holiday Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Story” and “The Nine Lives of Christmas,” watches them with her mom. “They get us in the holiday spirit while also letting us turn our brains off and relax while also bonding over the stupidity of the movies,” Wagner explained. “I mostly like how predictable the movies are, where there’s just a half attractive man with some manic pixie dream girl that’s half the age of the man. They meet since the girl is a journalist, small business owner, (or) TV host and then they have some meet-cute and get to know each other and their problems and they start to bond. Then, at one point, there’s a misunderstanding, and it actually doesn’t matter because love is the thing that prevails all. The movies are so unrelatable and unrealistic and that’s what makes them fun,” Wagner said.
For many, winter is the time of year for tradition, whether it’s exchanging gifts, participating in sacred rituals, putting up decorations that are set out each year, or all of the different annual family and religious customs that take place during the season. It’s comfort and repetition, coming back to familiar things year after year — and that includes coming back to the same stories. But instead of simply rewatching “Elf” or “The Polar Express,” Hallmark creates a new option of watching the same, or similar, plot lines time after time, but with different actors under different titles.
“I feel like they’re cute,” BHS senior Arya Jawalikar said, “You’re not expecting, like, a documentary when you’re watching them. So I feel like it’s okay.” At the end of the year, people just want to unwind and come together with something lighthearted, familiar, and comforting.